Rear Window&4sht Novls

by Cornell Woolrich and Alfred Hitchcock

Book Overview

Cornell Woolrich. His name conjures a maelstrom of nerve- shattering suspense spawned by the stark, cynical landscape of urban America in the 1930s and 1940s. This collection spotlights thirteen of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345306686
• ISBN13: 9780345306685
• Release Date: February 1984
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 169 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Characters caught in a noir world

The short story is a great form for Woolrich -- he deftly illustrates the trajectory of characters caught in a noir world in streamlined, hard-boiled prose. There are no Raymond Chandler-esque prose stylings here: Woolrich's style is closer to Dashiell Hammett's lean style. The title story, originally published as written by William Irish (a frequent Woolrich pseudonym), has grown famous thanks to the Hitchcock film starring Jimmy Stewart. Well-written, it varies only slightly from the film, and Woolrich's clean style lets the reader easily see how Hollywood was attracted to Woolrich's stories as launch pads for movies. But "Rear Window," while good, isn't really the best tale in this collection. The others better typify Woolrich's work -- inexplicable events made believable and inevitable in a noirish, claustrophobic world. This collection is a good introduction to any reader new to Woolrich.